Beacon Practice: Tips, Tricks, Ideas, Commitment, etc...

I actually put this in an existing thread, but seems to get no looks. Because I would appreciate some input on this from the collective, started a separate thread:

I was actually thinking about this the other day - my goal for 2010 is really to practice MUCH more. There are several beacon facilities in and around Tahoe, as well as obviously setting up your own scenarios with your partners.

I have also seen some good advice on here for methods to search when away from the snow.

I am just curious to the collective - how often do you practice?

What are your preferred methods (in and way from snow)?

Do you concentrate on singles or multiples (or both)?

Do you actually practice digging/probing as well?

When do you practice (down days, overnight tours, etc...)?

Just data dump all things beacon-practice.

Thanks.

Back when I worked for the CAIC I wrote an article for the CAIC's "Beacon" newsletter, about using Nerf Footballs in transciever practice. Several search & rescue teams and ski patrols have started to use Nerf Ball. Any way, here is the article I wrote about Nerf Ball.


Nerfball: an avalanche transceiver practice method.

By: Halsted Morris

While teaching avalanche safety courses for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), one of the many things I always emphasized was that folks need to practice a lot with their avalanche rescue transceivers. Checking around the Internet, you’ll see on many forums that the general public seems to believe that if they’re using a digital transceiver that they don’t need to practice as much.

The truth is practice builds skills, and limited practice means no skills in a critical situation. Getting folks to practice with their transceivers has always been tough, especially if they are alone. What good is it to practice transceiver searches, if you are doing the hiding and the finding? Obviously doing solo transceiver practice isn’t very realistic.

Backcountry Access (BCA) has set-up Beacon Basins, at various ski areas for folks to practice with their transceivers. They are basically a power box with on-off switches that are hard wired to fixed in place transmitters. At first I thought that these Beacon Basins are a great learning tool. But, what I have found is that they are not very realistic.

I say this because when folks are using a Beacon Basins it does not realistically represent what a real avalanche rescue transceiver search is like. My example of this, is when someone switches on the Beacon Basins they are already standing well within signal reception range of the victim. Now how many times do you think that happens in real life? So, folks don’t get a lesson in doing a larger area search and, trying to find the victim’s signal. With the shorter reception range on many digital transceivers it is critically important to conduct a proper initial search (i.e. how big and wide your zigzag search patterns are). I have also found that with Beacon Basins, once folks have found the buried transceivers the first time, they never really go back and use the Beacon Basin again. If they do, it really isn’t much of a practice session since they already know roughly where the buried transceivers are any way.

Ideally, it would be great to have a different and realistic transceiver search practice session each time. So, I got to thinking that it would be great to simply throw a transmitting transceiver over your shoulder, in order to hide the victim for solo transceiver practice. But, as tough as most transceivers are, it’s not recommended to be throwing them around. Finding away to pad a transceiver would be the way to make this solo transceiver practice possible. The solution to this problem arrived to me one day while shopping at Target. Target and King Soopers sell a small nine-inch Nerf football, for less then $10 in their toy department. A Nerfball is made of soft foam, suitable for indoor play. The nine-inch Nerf football is ideal for padding an avalanche transceiver. Here is how to make your own Nerfball transceiver practice ball.

Cut the football in half lengthwise, and then trace the outline of the transceiver you want to use with a marker. Then pinch the foam to rip it out. Do this until you make a form-fitting pocket for the transceiver. Then place the transmitting transceiver inside the pocket and use several large rubber bands to close the ball. But remember, make sure the transceiver is on transmit and working, before you secure the two half’s back together. Then place the Nerfball inside a small stuff sack. Now you’re ready to use the Nerfball.

A tear in my shoulder has left me lacking a John Elway strength arm for throwing Nerfball. But, I have found that tossing the Nerfball over my shoulder down a steep slope helps the ball travel further away. I have also found that doing transceiver practice on a forested slope with plenty of undergrowth makes for better (i.e., more complicated) practice. Once you’ve thrown the Nerfball remain looking uphill and allow the ball a minute to “pinball” down the slope and to finally come to rest. So far, my old Pipes 457 transceiver has survived 250+ “huckings” inside the Nerfball.

Essentially with the Nerfball transmitter you’re doing a transceiver search without the victim’s last seen area to start from. This is usually the most difficult sort of transceiver search for most folks, other then a multiple burial type situation. My thinking is that practicing the most difficult type of searches should improve one’s transceiver skills the most.

Just like an on-snow search, you need to first acquire the victim’s transmitting transceivers signal. Since you don’t know the slidepath boundaries in doing a dry land solo transceiver practice, figure your slidepath to be at least 150’ wide (75 feet to either side of the spot you where standing when you threw the Nerfball). Once you have picked up the victim’s signal, you can then start to use your preferred search method (fluxline/tangent method or the older grid method).

Once you’re closing in on the victim, you may actual see the Nerfball. I see this as the only drawback to the Nerfball practice method. But, you can complete your search and practice your final pinpoint search just above the Nerfball transmitter, even while it is visible and sitting on the ground. A camouflage pattern stuff sack is one way to make the Nerfball even less obvious, until you’re almost on top of it.

Placing the Nerfball in a short white plastic trash bag can add to the camouflaging of the hidden transmitter for on-snow searches. I have found that doing Nerfball searches on steeper ski resort slopes can be very realistic too. Pick a slope that has plenty of bumps and benches on it. Toss the ball and wait. Then it becomes a matter of doing your zigzags back and forth across the slope. You’ll suddenly find you have to ski/board over bumps (i.e. avalanche debris) while at the same time working with your transceiver. This is much more realistic then doing a search on flat terrain in a Beacon Basin.

My objective here is to get you out and doing a lot of transceiver searches. If you have a big enough slope, they can get four or five practice searches in before hiking back up the hill to start all over again (gee, getting a workout in while doing transceiver practice); or making another lap at a ski area. So, there’s no reason to forgo doing transceiver practice just because you don’t have a partner or time.

A number of folks still have their older duel frequency transceivers (Ortovox F2, Arva 4000 and Ramer Avalert Duel) or older 457 Hz analog transceivers (Pieps 457 Ortovox F1) in the back of their equipment closets. And, there are a number of used older transceivers for sale out there that can be picked up at minimal cost. Camo stuff sacks can be found at your local hunting equipment stores.

The Nerfball transmitter practice method is easy, simple, cheap, realistic and a great way to get in a lot of great transceiver practice. With two Nerfball transmitters you can quickly become skilled at multiple transceiver searches. I have had a number of avalanche professionals laugh when I pull out a Nerfball from my pack. But, once they tried the Nerfball practice method, they see the real value of it. And they end up using it. It doesn’t matter what brand of avalanche rescue transceiver you own. More important is that you’re skilled and confidant with your transceiver. The Nerfball transmitter is one way to improve your skills, during summer and winter. I hope you’ll try it out.

One thing that you can do that is kind of fun and mixes it up is to play some "beacon manhunt" at night. It doesn't work on pinpointing and isn't realistic but its a fun change for when practice gets stale and you have lost the motivation to practice.

Cool article Hacksaw. Thanks.

I have an article called "Beacon Teaching Tips" that I wrote a few years ago for The Avalanche Review- pop me an email address in a PM and I can send it to you if you like.

Any tips for flatlanders?

Our mountains in Australia are a non-issue for avalanches, but our patrol has an exchange with Squaw and Tignes so there are always a few pros that could conduct some training, but it would be good to do something in the lead up to my next trip to Cham, and February in Melbourne is rather dry.

Any tips on using beacons in a park or other outdoor open space? I know it's not going to replicate the real thing, but at least you can work on acquiring the signal and search patterns etc.

I am just here to state that this is one kick-ass thread.

And that it can be motivating to bury a beer next to the transceiver. ;)

Is it possible to practice in the house? Or will all the stuff in the house interfere with the signal?

Do not cook beacon naked.

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Originally Posted by edmoloco

Is it possible to practice in the house? Or will all the stuff in the house interfere with the signal?

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RFI should be minimal -- unless you do something like hide the beacon right up against a computer or similar, so that in the fine search phase the searching beacon will start ghosting.

The bigger problem is attempts to follow the flux line will be hindered by room configuration.

However, fine search phase searching can be really good indoors if you set up a grid covered by a tarp. The place I patrol at where we have this event:
http://amn09.nmnsp.org/
... each fall just so happens to have these two movable cubby hole-type bookcases. I put them flat on the floor, up against each other, hide a beacon in one of the cubbies, then put a tarp over it. The searcher has to figure out which cubbie has the beacon, then we remove the tarp to see if he was correct. You could probably rig up something along these lines.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by homemadesalsa

I have an article called "Beacon Teaching Tips" that I wrote a few years ago for The Avalanche Review- pop me an email address in a PM and I can send it to you if you like.

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Can just post it here? Best way to get it to as many mags as possible.

Speaking of The Avalanche Review, this is definitely worth the $30 annual subscription price:
http://www.americanavalancheassociat..._subscribe.php

Great idea about the Nerf toss. It solves a lot of weaknesses with regular training drills.
I like how its on an actual slope and its blind and out of range.
Downside is that you can see the stuffsack once you get close enough for a visual.


One thing about the training parks - the one at JH is way high on the mountain and I always wondered if there would not be more response if they could somehow locate it closer to the bottom. If I pay for a lift served ski day, I really hate to spend it dorking around in the test park.
Besides, the beacon area is flat anyway, so why not have it at the bottom of the hill where you could train on a non-ski day or train at the end of the day before the sun sets.
There are also many backcountry skiers that never set foot at the resort. They have no training resource at all.
Just a thought for the JH scene. Do other ski areas also put their training areas high on the mountain?

I would post that article but I think it is too long.

I have been sending out some other rescue-related articles from The Avalanche Review as well- a compilation of recent research and an update on the micro search strip, which I think is the best multiple search method for non-triple antenna beacons, and a great backup tool for those with a beacon with a masking/ marking function.

I practiced at Vail when I took a lunch break yesterday ( yes, I pussied out and stopped for almost and hour)
The park is WAY up next to Two-Elk, so 3 lifts to get there. The sign on the box said only to use channel 2 and 6, but there were like 12 switches. I hit both channels available and my tracker 2 was super easy to use. I flicked both switches and found both transmitters pretty quick. Today there were two guys trying and i said hi, but they said they followed my footprints from the day before too get close, kind of a downside... I don't know if they move them much.

Head to a beacon basin, preferably with rough terrain. Flat land beacon practice doesn't get the jist of moving over and avalanche pass

Tahoe mags, where are the basins in north lake? I live in truckee and know of only the one in kirkwood. Have the analog Ortovox and need to get in a lot more practice to feel comfortable with them.
Also, does any of the north lake mags want to get together for some save_the_beer_from_freezing beacon practice?

My BCA Tracker just came in today, and I'm going to try to put together a flatland practice session for as many of us in MN as I can get together. I love the nerf ball idea. I might try to find a old beater to practice on my own when I can. Maybe while walking the dog out in the field or something...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by imadoofus

Tahoe mags, where are the basins in north lake? I live in truckee and know of only the one in kirkwood. Have the analog Ortovox and need to get in a lot more practice to feel comfortable with them.
Also, does any of the north lake mags want to get together for some save_the_beer_from_freezing beacon practice?

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There is a practice facility at Sugarbowl up by Donner Pass. I *believe* it is at the base as well, so no need to do it mid-day while skiing or anything.